Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm extremely honoured to stand here today, having spoken to the initial JobKeeper legislation in May this year. The reason I stand here so very proud is that the Australian people were looking to the federal government for a response, and they got a response that was certain, that was strong and that they could predict and rely on so that their businesses could stay certain and strong through what has been an incredibly unprecedented crisis. I want to take the House back to the end of March. This House rose on 24 March, and we actually had a concept that we would not be sitting again until 22 August. That is an example of how difficult it was to predict at that time what was happening around the world and how it was going to affect Australia. In fact, as it turned out, we have actually sat four times since that time, and we have been able to continue with the pace of legislation that is required to keep governing this country.

The reason I bring this up is that, as a public health researcher, I know how hard it can be to model and predict the future. I also know prevention is better than cure. In those two situations, we've been very clear, very stable and very certain in the way we have delivered a health response to a crisis that is a global crisis. But we can also say the same is true for our economic response. I remember saying to one of my constituents at the end of March that the Prime Minister was facing what could be the Spanish flu and the Great Depression coming at him at speed. It was like he had the Australian population of 25 million people as passengers on a great plane called the Australian economy and he had to land the plane to a safe haven in order to deal with what was an unprecedented crisis. And every day he was out in the public, for an hour a day, speaking to us about what his plan was. And I, for one, felt very comfortable and very certain that he had a plan.

And that plan was that this crisis was going to be with us for a significant period of time. The Prime Minister always said that from the very start. He said this wasn't a two-week crisis—some people on the other side argued that we should go for a hard lockdown and it would be over in two weeks—but would take at least six months. As early as late March, he was able to say we're going to put in place things that will help cushion the economy, which will help buffer jobs, which will help ensure livelihoods for a six-month period. That seemed almost unbelievable at that time.

As it's turned out, the Prime Minister was absolutely right: we've found that we needed a strong, secure economic approach. The people of Higgins are very, very grateful for the JobKeeper legislation, on which I was privileged to speak on 13 May in this House. We have seen 900,000 businesses now take up the JobKeeper payment—that's 3½ million employees—and already $42 billion has been disbursed to the people of Australia. Some people on the other side were surprised that we took this step. We did it because we knew that this had to be done, that this temporary payment was incredibly important. And I now back in this second piece of legislation. It was four months ago that the initial legislation was put in place, at a time when we didn't really know what was going to happen with this pandemic. So we're now moving to a point where we need to make sure we can step down the payment support in a temporary, transitionary way so that, moving forward into the future, people know what their business situation will be and what the economy will do. They need to be able to ensure that they can plan into the future.

The fact that the temporary JobKeeper payment is now being extended to March and we are going to have an industrial relations system that ensures flexibility for the JobKeeper payment through this period of time is incredibly important to the businesses of Australia and the employees of Australia. In my electorate of Higgins, so many people have been incredibly grateful for the support they have received. This is not the government's money; this is taxpayers' money. But they understand that this money is being well spent, that it is targeted and that it is temporary. We are making some adjustments now to ensure that as we move forward, going into the post-COVID period, we can enable the economy to get off its knees and enable businesses to move forward with certainty and plan right out until March.

I come from Victoria and, unfortunately, we are now nine weeks behind the rest of the country. Give a shout-out to my constituents in Higgins. We are struggling with feeling a little bit left behind with regard to our health response. But I can say that we look to the rest of the country to see the economy opening back up. When I speak to my colleagues around Australia, they tell me people are getting back to business. The businesses that have been hardest hit—retail, hospitality and health—are now opening up and getting back to business. This supportive economic initiative is so important. They can get back to business knowing that their employees have stayed connected to businesses. This is the important psychology of knowing that you have a job, that after this is all over you'll be able to get back to work. Businesses know that they are staying connected to their employees, that when it is time to open back up they won't have to open up their books again and find out how to interview people and get all of that administration going. They know that they can start back up again with trained, skilled employees, which means they can be on the front foot and ready to take forward their plans for their businesses. That is what the Australian economy is all about. It's about individuals, about the individual companies, having the confidence to move forward into a post-COVID period of time.

I must say, the most important thing about all of this is that the Australian people trust that they have a government that understands that this money is not the government's money but the taxpayers' money, and that we treat that money understanding that it's important to invest in our future through these temporary measures that will mean we're ready for a prosperous future. We know that we'll continue to do what it takes to ensure that Australia can trust that we have economic prosperity at the front of our mind each and every day as we make deliberations here in this chamber.

I'd like to say thank you to the opposition for working so cooperatively on what is clearly the most important economic initiative that this country has seen. When I look at the unprecedented economic and health crisis that we have faced, I think the Australian people can feel a great sense of confidence and trust that we are on the right track, that we are heading in the right direction. We've dodged a bullet with regard to the health consequences of the COVID pandemic. The Treasurer has the right plan and right strategy and the Prime Minister is leading us to a very optimistic and hopeful future.

See this speech in context